Service-Learning InternshipsIn the medicine of compassion

The Adventures in Caring Foundation (AiC) is offering a one-year service-learning exploration of the human element in health care—for undergraduate students who are pursuing careers in the health professions.

In-depth training, personal interactions with the sick and injured, regular reflection, and year-round coaching develop the advanced listening skills, emotional intelligence, and authentic compassion so vital to healing. Such competencies in the art of connecting with those in pain reduce distress, relieve social isolation, and restore well-being—in hundreds of frail elderly patients in local hospitals and skilled nursing facilities.

The commitment is two hours per week for one school year (a minimum of 25 visits). Applicants are selected (only 15 per training) by in-person interview. If selected, you attend a 20-hour experiential training program prior to being assigned your facility to visit.

You will be immersed in a best practices adult learning experience that produces real transformation in your ability to communicate with anyone—regardless of age, illness, race, or culture. From your year of service you will gain skills that last a lifetime—you will learn the language of healing. It is no small thing to form healing partnerships and restore well-being simply by the way you communicate. This is the true art and practice of compassion.

Prerequisites for this program are an unusual combination of wholeheartedness, humility, and the courage to step out of one’s comfort zone. This internship is not about you or your resume looking good—it is the practical application of depth psychology to alleviate human suffering. The language of healing uses symbolism, paradox, metaphor, and appreciative listening to draw out the stories that lead to healing—of body, mind, heart, and soul. We even use a make-believe character to get closer to what is most real in life—this the Raggedy paradox that has proved so effective.

Training DaysAll volunteer internship seminars are conducted over a long weekend in Santa Barbara. The hours of the seminar are:
• Friday: 6:00PM to 9:00PM
• Saturday from 9:00AM to 6:00PM, and
• Sunday from 9:00AM to 6:00PM.